911 call reports bear hanging from trash truck driving on NC highway. It was no joke

Facebook screenshot of the Chamber of Commerce post on stowaway bear in garbage truck.

One of North Carolina’s bears was caught in the act of eating trash on Wednesday, after it got stuck in a garbage truck headed to the landfill, according to the Windsor/Bertie County Chamber of Commerce.

A photo posted by the chamber on Facebook showed the pitiful bear perched on the top of the truck’s trailer, trapped by the netting used to keep trash from blowing out.

TV station WTKR reported authorities in Bertie County got a call from a motorist at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, reporting “a bear was hanging off of a dump truck” headed north on US 17 to the Bertie County landfill. The county is in eastern N.C., on the Albemarle Sound.

Chamber of Commercial spokesman Lewis Hoggard told the Virginian-Pilot a deputy stopped the truck and then the bear “stuck his head up” out of the trailer.

Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month

The driver told deputies he was unaware a bear was in the trailer, reported WITN.

Stumped for a solution, deputies came up with a plan to allow the bear to continue riding in the truck until it reached the landfill, WTKR said.

However, the driver resolved the matter more quickly by rolling back the netting, reported the chamber of Facebook. “The bear hopped out of the truck and ran in the woods!” said the post.

Bertie County officials told WTKR it was the second time in six months that the someone has reported a bear stuck in a trash truck.

The black and white images, taken in Hyde County, North Carolina show the black bears rolling in a jumble of black fur with teeth bared and claws swinging. The images have been pieced together to create a 14-second clip of the height of the battle

Mark Price has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1991, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, the LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology.